August 20, 2010. Ironton, MI to South Manitou Island.56.5 miles

Bill and I slept on the boat last night and Erika, Liza (pronounced Leeza)and Toby slept at Mike and Sandy's house. This made sense to us but they were a little disappointed. We drove back to get them at 9 AM and they were not ready--in fact the younger ones were still asleep. By the time we loaded up and went to breakfast it was nearing 11:00! We pushed off from the dock around 11:30 and made it through the drawbridge at Charlevoix at 12:30 (it only opens on the half-hour), and is a busy waterway.

The weather report was dicey--tornados in Cheboygan (not very far away) and small craft warnings in our area--not sure if we are considered a small craft, but we sailed away regardless of the weather report.

We set the sails and made only minor adjustments for most of the day. At about 50 miles into our sailing day we passed the lighthouse above, and turned right--our only course change since we left Charlevoix. Erika drove a lot today, a good job for her with her broken foot.

Bill had been concerned that we would not get there before dark, but the wind was in our favor and we arrived at South Manitou harbor at 5:30. We very quickly set the anchor because the storm was upon us. Then we put up a rain tarp as the first torrents of rain came down on us! We tossed around in the high winds, but no one was whining--we actually had fun sitting together under the rain tarp, and ate sandwiches from the cooler because it was too rough to light the stove.

After the younger folk went to bed Bill and I crawled out on the foredeck to adjust the anchor line because it was rubbing on the metal sprit cable and we were afraid it was going to saw it in 2! There was not much sleep to be had for Captain and first mate, but we made it through the night.

Our entertainment for the evening was watching another sailboat (that had been in the harbor ahead of us) trying to reset its anchor. They had a bit more trouble with it than we did.... we were most impressed with how Liza and Toby handled the storm. They were not afraid, and actually laughed at the silly sailing stories we told them under the rain tarp.